NEU calls for two week closure for secondaries and colleges following leap in infections

[noblegiraffe]

The NEU has called for a two week closure of secondary schools and colleges following a more than 9-fold increase in the infection rate in secondary school children in a month.

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-teachers-demand-2-week-school-closures-after-cases-jump

The infection rate in Y7-11 was 0.5% last week, according to the ONS survey of random households, but this nearly doubled to 0.93% in the latest set of figures. This rise cannot be ignored or passed off as relating to university students as has happened so far.

In other, entirely unrelated news, 61% of teachers report that if a student doesn't wear a mask in a school where they are mandated in communal areas 'nothing happens'.

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-61-staff-say-nothing-done-if-pupils-wont-wear-masks

And Teacher Tapp data from yesterday had 26% of teachers reporting that their schools were partially closed to students.

In the meantime, the testing positivity rate in 10-19 year olds is 17%, which means that this group is severely under-tested and lots of cases will be missed. The rate should be below 5%.

Yet the insistence continues that in any lockdown scenario, schools will remain open. Idiocy.

What are the possible advantages of completely remote over blended?

100% teacher time v 50% or lower

Only for the kids who can access it, Marsha

For those that have internet access, only.

It doesn’t matter how much people ‘want’ the schools to stay open, or even ‘need’ the schools to stay open, if the schools have to close, then they will.

They won’t close to protect children or teachers, they will close simply because the virus will spread to other areas of the community. Businesses will be affected anyway; people will be at more risk of catching it when doing the essential things, for instance shopping for food; hospitals will start to struggle again, putting the population at risk from Covid and just about everything else.

People can stamp their feet and shout from the rooftops how much schools need to stay open and it won’t make a blind bit of difference.

Other ask ‘what’s the point, it didn’t work last time’. Well, where would we be now if we hadn’t locked down? How many more lives would have been lost?
And now if we do nothing, we will be in the same boat, probably worse.
We can’t ‘get on with it’ until a vaccine is available, we actually have to manage the spread until a vaccine is available and short lockdowns are certainly a way of doing that.

@DBML agree.

Well the NEU can demand all they want, won't make a jot of difference to what happens regarding schools.

There are very cases in schools in my (tier 2 area) and thankfully no local talk of closing.

We can’t ‘get on with it’ until a vaccine is available

And what if that's years away or never happens?

@MarshaBradyo

Nellodee I just can’t get on with blended as it separates the student from teaching resource. I also question whether part time will actually lower disruption. How are private schools with big rooms doing? (Ie more SD)

A normal school day from home, as we had today, seemed so much better than two days a week last term then left to it.

As if you are teaching other students what are your at home students doing?

I'm having to teach both simultaneously. On Monday I have a double with 1 in class and 29 at home.

@LindainLockdown

Well the NEU can demand all they want, won't make a jot of difference to what happens regarding schools.

There are very cases in schools in my (tier 2 area) and thankfully no local talk of closing.

Oh hello. Still banging on with the same belligerent lines? Hubris springs to mind.

Yes I know but we seem to be able to, with message to contact school if you can’t I don’t know details of what that entails. I know it’s not possible for all schools though

Otherwise if they can’t access it what happens? 50% school, no access at all other half

Or accommodated in school ft as can’t access but everyone else much lower time with teacher.

If a school is experiencing high volume of cases being in that classroom might not be so welcome in any case, even with mitigation

It seems no one is asking for part time anyway? Not NEU

I'm having to teach both simultaneously. On Monday I have a double with 1 in class and 29 at home.

Insane! How are you doing that?

@Nellodee

For those that have internet access, only.

What would your students do when they are part time? What does the home part look like?

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Then sadly, this is going to go on for years.

Or we’ll maybe find other ways...better treatments...more effective track and trace etc

But until we have something concrete, all we can do is repeatedly manage the virus before it gets out of control.

Don’t get me wrong, I hated teaching from home. The emails, meetings, pupils, planning, T&L, phone calls to parents, reports, scheme of work writing etc infiltrated my home. I had to be online by 8.15am and remain online until 3.30pm every day, even those I was working with key workers children. I got dreadful headaches from the screen time and after work ended, I had hours of school work to do with my own child. It was shit. Really really shit.

@DBML I do agree, but I also recognise that not everywhere is in as dire straits as schools like mine yet. I support schools that are doing fine staying open as long as feasible, though I think they should take action sooner to maximise staying open. My school should have switched to blended learning once we had multiple cases in multiple years.

I am deeply concerned about exams for year 11s this year, though. It seems obvious that students at my school are going to lose several weeks more than students at some other schools. I want this to be recognised when they sit their GCSEs and A-levels.

@RubyandBen strikes were 26th Feb 1985.. ended in parliament 5th May 1987 (got my dates out slightly).

@noblegiraffe

Teachers don’t qualify for furlough, don’t spout bollocks. There is a legal obligation for schools to teach the curriculum remotely so teachers will be very busy.

Not necessarily. Schools have closed now here in NI for an extended break, no remote learning. We have been told the teachers will be uncontactable as they have their own children to look after.

Then sadly, this is going to go on for years

And you'd be happy with that? Sacrificing years of education.... For what exactly?

@TrustTheGeneGenie

We can’t ‘get on with it’ until a vaccine is available

And what if that's years away or never happens?

Then the virus will move through the population at a slower rate allowing for better treatments to be found, preventing health services and ICUs from being overwhelmed, allowing NHS to continue to provide other services, and fewer people will die. For those who want herd immunity (if this is even possible with Covid) then herd immunity would eventually be within the realms of possibility.

Very few dc in most places don't have Internet access and few enough to be able to support in another way.

This is the attitude I don't get.
Working from home, blended learning done well is a brilliant solution, thanks to amazing advances in tech. It can be done.
My setting has a high % of sen, fsm, pp etc.
We had some issues. We managed to over come them.
Many dc face many challenges and it was vital to their mental health, Being in contact with us, us seeing them, them seeing their friends etc, having a structure and a routine and of course moving forward with achieving.
Personally I don't think that's sustainable till March, but it can be done.
It was done.
No one any where will get anything done with such defeatist attitudes.
It's the only way to keep people in education on the front line safe.
I am lucky where I am because we are doing blended learning however I still don't feel entirely safe on sight, due to several messages getting lost. No consistency in the staff either and no proper back up from slt although they seem to be trying harder over the past few days.
But my own dc are in very large bubbles in their schools. Especially the dc in secondary... Leaving, arriving... Cross over teachers...

Then the virus will move through the population at a slower rate allowing for better treatments to be found, preventing health services and ICUs from being overwhelmed, allowing NHS to continue to provide other services, and fewer people will die. For those who want herd immunity (if this is even possible with Covid) then herd immunity would eventually be within the realms of possibility

Yes and meanwhile children miss out on loads of education, parents lose jobs and homes left right and centre. Sounds like an ace plan.

Closing Scools = Children Missing out on essential learning.

let's face it, online learning is ok for older secondary school kids and children who have at least one sahp

Noblegiraffe I do I think it's terrible. But better in and out than completely off the radar.

I didn't say I cared about all the vulnerable kids anyway. I mean I do, I care as much as I care about anyone. What I said is it would be catastrophic. Much worse on the children than the virus would be for them.

@LindainLockdown

No just my opinion, which is as valid as yours as *@SaltyAndFresh*, however much you and your chums bang on that your propaganda is the "truth".

Am I one of Salty's chums? Because guess what, my "propoganda" IS the truth.

I just cannot imagine nurses in working in the ICU dept of a hospital coming on here, saying how badly they were being affected by Covid, and people telling them that they were spouting "propoganda".

Why can people not believe teachers when they are saying that what we are doing now isn't working, that for those of us in schools limping on their last legs, its the worst of all possible worlds?